60 JACK RABBITS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



KABBIT HUNTS. 



It may be of iuterest to consider the methods of destruction which 

 have been used in other States. Two of the jack rabbits which occur 

 in CaHfornia {Lepus texianus and L. campesfris) are common also in 

 Utah, Idaho, and Colorado, and in some sections are excessively abun- 

 dant. An entirely different method of extermination, however, is prac- 

 ticed from that adopted in California. Large numbers are killed with 

 shotguns in regularly organized hunts, but rabbit drives, properly 

 speaking, are now rarely made, except in Idaho. 



UTAH. 



According to Mr. M, Eichards, jr., of Parowan, Utah, the club was 

 formerly used in some of the rabbit hunts on the brush lands bordering 

 Little Salt Lake, and as many as 2,000 rabbits have been killed iij a 

 drive, but this method has now been abandoned and shooting has been 

 adopted instead. 



Eabbit hunts have taken place since the earliest settlement of the 

 State — nearly half a century ago — but when they were first held by 

 the Indians is unknown. The Piutes, Coshutes, and Pahvan Indians 

 were accustomed to resort to a large valley near Cedar City during the 

 month of Kovember, for the i)urpose of having a grand hunt, and thou- 

 sands of rabbits were annually slaughtered.' Strangely enough, the 

 first hunt among the whites of which we have any record probably 

 occurred very near this place, and was participated in by a party of 

 emigrants on their way from Salt Lake City to California in 1840. It 

 was a portion of the same company which soon after experienced such 

 hardships on the desert, and on account of whose sufferings the now 

 celebrated Death Valley in California received its name. This early 

 rabbit hunt probably took place in the month of October, 1849, some- 

 where in the region north of Little Salt Lake, either in Iron or Beaver 

 County. Mr. W. L. Manly.^ one of the members of the party, describes 

 the hunt as follows : 



"We came into a long, narrow valley well covered with sage brush, 

 and before we liad gone very far we discovered that this was a great 

 place for long-eared rabbits — we would call them jack rabbits now. 

 Ev^eryone who had a gun put it into service on this occasion, and there 

 was much jiopping and shooting on every side. Great clouds of smoke 

 rolled up as the hunters advanced, and the rabbits ran in every direc- 

 tion to get away. Many ran right among the horses, and under the 

 feet of the cattle and under the wagons, so that tlie teamsters even 

 killed some with a Avhij). At the end of the valley we went into camp, 

 and on counting u]) the game found we had over 500, or about one for 

 every person in camp." 



1 Coues & Yarrow, Kept. Geog. Surv. W. 100th Merid., V, Zool., 1875, p. 127. 



2 Death Valley in '49, 1894, pp. 110-111. 



